Tuesday, 4 June 2013

Sepia Saturday 180 : 8 June 2013

What is life?, I ask myself. In life you are born, you move about, you eat, and you die. And if you want a perfect visual representation of this thing we call life, where better to look than the archives of the Bain News Service brought to us by The Library of Congress and Flickr Commons. This particular image shows the kitchen of the hospital train of Kaiserin Augusta Victoria and dates from the early years of the First World War. Somewhere, behind the emulsion of the glass negative, there is a monochromatic contrast between the organised sterility of the bright kitchens and the mud and the blood and the misery there must have been outside, but such senseless contrasts are equally part of the equation that we call life. Whatever particular philosophical branch line you care to explore, there is plenty of potential prompts for Sepia Saturday 180. All we ask is that you post your post on or around Saturday 8 June 2013 and add a link to the list below.

And in case you want to see what is around the next bend in the track of life, here is a preview of the next two Sepia Saturday prompts.

181 : Time to open your jewellery case and dig out some sparkling images. We're looking for any bodily adornments: from girls with pearl earrings to gents with an impressive medal collection (or vice versa!).

182 : It's 'Off To The Creamery' this week c1900. The possibilities are
endless: bowler hats, milk churns (or dairies) men (or women) posing on
horseback, Australia, farms or any combination of these.

One of the great things about Sepia Saturday is that our collective challenges can shift from dressing table to dressing station, from earrings to yearlings : they are all part of our sepia life.

24 comments:

Once again I am not sure whether I will get the opportunity to post this week as we are about to go off on holiday and, as many of you know, I suffer from Departure Anxiety Syndrome and run around the house like a headless chicken for days before departure trying to remember what I need to pack. But I am pleased to say that Marilyn will be taking up the helm of our sepia ship whilst I am away, but I will say more about that when I post next weeks' call.

I didn't know my pre-departure craziness had a name and there were others out there just like me. DAS sufferers - we're not alone. Shouldn't we be on some sort of medication or engaged in a 12 step recovery program of some kind?

I managed to fit in kitchens, hospitals and WW1. I'm not sure about Alan's terminology with regard to what lies ahead in the coming weeks. Yes, I'm in charge again whilst he's away, so stick with me please Sepians. Do visit us on the Facebook page too (sometimes I think I'm talking to myself on there). Oh wait, isn't that the first sign of going 'round the bend'? Now I see what he means - thanks very much Alan.

I have something early this week because we too are preparing to depart, eastward on travels....Alan I share the anxiety response too, but have tried to resolve it with "I can alsways shop." I did get onto our Facebook group too. Will likely not be posting after this week here as we travel

Little Nell - That's why I like that widget (or whatever it is) on Seapia Saturday's FB page which tell's you that you are not alone, i.e. who has viewed a particular post. I, for one, am there a couple of times a day, even if I don't post there much.

I'm going with the uniforms theme, and roughly the same era, but no hospitals for me (don't like the surgical atmosphere).

It's been a few weeks since I last took part, but today's prompt picture made me think of a photo in my great-aunt Gerda's album that might be from WWI in France. And if that photo is not - I know that she was, and there are postcards to prove it...

Sepia Saturday

Launched by Alan Burnett and Kat Mortensen in 2009, Sepia Saturday provides bloggers with an opportunity to share their history through the medium of photographs. Historical photographs of any age or kind (they don't have to be sepia) become the launchpad for explorations of family history, local history and social history in fact or fiction, poetry or prose, words or further images. If you want to play along, all we ask is that your sign up to the weekly Linky List, that you try to visit as many of the other participants as possible, and that you have fun.